It's going to cost West Jordan residents at least $1.50 a month more to flush their toilets, wash their cars and water their lawns.
The City Council tentatively has signed off on a rate hike proposal prepared by city staff that will increase the basic rate and increase water costs even more for folks with large yards and gardens.And council members are expected to make it official Tuesday night when they take up a rate increase resolution being prepared for the council agenda.
The increase was all but approved May 5 when council members agreed to go along with a staff proposal that will raise another $1.2 million in water-fund income in fiscal 1999.
Council members did not vote for the increase but directed City Attorney Greg Curtis to prepare a resolution for Tuesday's agenda.
City Manager Dan Dahlgren said adopting the staff proposal will delay but not derail a plan for a conservation-based rate structure that has been advanced by the newly formed West Jordan Water Conservation Advisory Committee.
"Two or three years from now, we may be coming back to the council" to look at that plan, he said. "But trying to do it now would cause all kinds of prob-lems."
It will take time to retool the city's computer program for water billing, Dahlgren noted, and West Jordan needs time to educate the public because the conservation system would be considerably more complex.
If adopted, however, the conservation plan would charge for actual usage and would reward residents who conserve water while punishing water wasters.
"Right now, the (new) structure punishes large users," said Finance Director David Sanderson, who fine-tuned the staff's rate increase proposal.
City officials say West Jordan has been losing money in its water fund for the past two years because of increased costs for water purchased from the Salt Lake Water Conservancy District.
The new plan would increase the base rate for up to 6,000 gallons to $9.71 a month, an increase of $1.50.
Residents using more than 6,000 gallons will kick into the "overage" portion of the rate structure, with water users who need 40,000 to 100,000 gallons a month for large lawns and gardens taking the hardest hit.
Overage costs include:
- Eighty cents more for every 1,000 gallons over the 6,000-gallon base up to 40,000 gallons.
- $1.10 more for every 1,000 gallons between 40,001 and 100,000 gallons.
- Eighty cents more for every 1,000 gallons over 100,001 gallons.
By dropping the rate for 100,000-gallon-plus users, city officials are trying to make sure they don't drive businesses and industries that use large amounts of water out of West Jordan.
The proposed rates, when applied to a family of seven now paying about $247 a year for water, would increase costs by about $81 annually - bringing the water bill to $328.
For a family of four now paying $192 a year, the new rates would mean an increase of $55 and bring the bill to $248 a year.
And a single person now paying $137 a year would see an increase of $33 annually, or a total of $170.
Large lot owners now paying $400 a year, however, will see their costs go up by $170 annually, or a total of $570.